[Friday, July 15]
Woke up very early in de morning cuz my flight departure time is at 720am. gotta check in at least 2 hrs earlier. sigh. reached Terminal 1 (T1) ard 5+. yawen is alrdy dere when i arrived. after checking in, went to meet my lecturer for awhile. Mr Kan, course manager of SIT, came to send us off. after which, christina, li er, evelyn and kevin rushed to T1 from T2. they actually "camped" overnight at T2 cuz they had night class de day before. really appreciated their effort. in addition they made me a BIG farewell card with some pics cut out from mags. i was kinda "forced" to bring de card along with me. haha. bought them BK breakfast aka "ai xing zhao can".
next up, met up with mag, limin and hanyi. they also rushed down from home. haha. guess itz too early for them to wake up so it happened dat everyone rushed down to send me off. so touched can.. *muacks* took some pics with everyone including my family (without ari though). by around 620am, i had to go in. bidded farewell to all, exchanged hugs and at dat moment, my tears juz rolled down my cheeks without warning. my first time overseas without my family/frenz, so naturally i'll feel homesick and sad. yawen cried too, and de both of us were trying to comfort each other but failed lah. our emotions were too overwhelming. at around 635, we boarded de flight. de plane took off pretty on time at 720.
Took some pics on de plane. i was sitting in de middle and yawen sat at de window seat. throughout de 7+ hrs to Tokyo Narita Airport, ate and watched some movies. dere were Ms Congeniality 2, The Incredibles and National Treasure. i've seen all before except The Incredibles. haha. reached Tokyo around 3pm. took some pics while waiting for our next flight, which was in about 1.5 hrs.
de journey from Tokyo to Chicago took about 11 hrs. damn tiring. dere was a middle-aged caucasian man sitting beside me (i'm in de middle seat again). he's a heavy alcoholic. every time de air stewardess serves us, he always asked for red wine. after he finished de whole bottle (about 400ml), he would fall into deep sleep. and when i had to go to de restroom, i gotta nudge him several times before he finally woke up. haha. i did nothing much except eat, watch movies and sleep on de plane. can feel myself putting on several pounds at dat instance.
arrived at Chicago Ohare Airport at 3pm (US time) which was 4am in SG. fortunately, de security check wasn't as tight as it was said to be. everything went smooth except for a last minute flight delay of about 1.5 hrs to my final destination - Fort Worth Airport in Dallas, Texas. shopped around at chicago airport and slacked at de waiting area. by de time we boarded de domestic plane to Dallas, is around 6pm. had informed our contact person (David, product & marketing manager) beforehand about de delay and he still came to fetch us nonetheless.
reached Dallas at 845pm. david brought us to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. after dinner, went to buy some groceries and then settled into our apartment (or rather, is motel i think). Bathed, unpacked and watched 'Troy' on de HBO channel. haha. couldn't sleep cuz i slept so much during de journey. hmm.. here in US, dere were channels like ESPN, FOX, HBO, CNBC, CNN, Cartoon Network, Superstation WGN etc. but i usually watch de HBO and Superstation WGN channels. haha. after watching, i called home, my aunt and uncle. it was late morning in SG when i called them. Smsed chris and mag. sorry i din sms de rest of u cuz itz like $0.50 per sms for me. haha. but i do think of all of u k.. after which, i tried to call james on his cellphone umpteen times but couldn't reach him at all. can only pray dat he received my email. haha.
[Saturday, July 16]
oh well, james did receive my email. haha. he called me thrice on my cellphone while i was sleeping. actually i was waken up at 8+am, at dat time i din realise de anonymous number was from him so i ignored his calls twice, until de 3rd time i decided to pick up. found it annoying dat it rang so many times; lazy to switch off my cellphone. haha. when i answered de call, i couldn't hear him clearly probably due to poor reception or whatever. ya anyway, he was trying to reconfirm with me where i was, and told me he was kinda lost on de road; his first time in Dallas. he still managed to find his way to my apartment though. Lol. went to welcome him at de lobby. when i saw him, i was so damn amused at his hairdo - dreadlocks. haha. not used to it lah. he used to have really short hair. brought him up to our room, while i made preparations to go out.
first place we went to was Downtown Dallas. it was about 30mins drive from our apartment. visited 'The Sixth floor' museum at Dealey plaza. de museum chronicles the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. it literally has 6 floors of exhibition. haha. james' friend told him dis is a can't-be-missed museum in Texas, so dere we were. well, i've heard about dis President when i was in sec school; took history then. haha. so unlike me rite when i'm not one who loves memorising. but i know memorising is definitely someone's forte - LI ER. wahaha. stayed at de museum for nearly 1.5 hrs.
after which, we went to West End Marketplace. Walked around de place for awhile, den james suggested we go and eat first before we come back for more shopping. apparently he was starving. haha. went to Spaghetti Warehouse which was across de street. Ordered 'spaghetti feast'. de dish was a damn huge portion. couldn't finish most of it except for de noodles. had takeaways. itz gd dat restaurants here allow takeaways most of de time den we dun have to waste our food, since it costed me about US15bucks (includes service tips) for dis meal. giving tips is a norm in US as de employees in de service line usually depend on tips to earn more $$. their hourly / monthly wages aren't dat much for them to live by. after dat, walked around de area to check out interesting places but dere was nothing much. in short, boring! took some pics though. went to return james' rented car after we "toured" de not-very-exciting place. i din noe it costs US100bucks to rent a car for 1 day. boy, damn ex! after dat, went to another automobile company to rent a cheaper car. but ended up still de same price. haha. after we rented de new car, we drove to another town called Downtown/ Fort Worth. it's definitely more lively over dere. a carnival was going on. dere were food stalls, live performance, accessories shops etc. dere was also dis place for watching movies called 'AMC'. de price of a movie tix is twice of dat in SG. gosh.. walked around, took photos again.
okie, long story cut short. since a picture paints a thousand words. see de pics below for more elaboration. haha.
my family & i (w/o arina)
k.a.c.e.l (posing with de back of de card)
front of de card
inside de card
on de plane to Tokyo
at Tokyo Narita Airport
our apartment (or motel? i dunno..haha)
our rather-cosy room
kitchen area near de door
de miserable space as "wardrobe"
de clean & neat toilet..Lol
view from our room: behind our apartment
The Sixth Floor museum at Dealey Plaza
Dallas County Criminal Courts
tram system in Downtown Dallas
horse carriages are quite common on de streets
West End Marketplace
ate at Spaghetti Warehouse
my order: 'Spaghetti Feast' (really looks like a feast huh)
salad appetizer
regular sized drink..looks more like XL size
statue of George Bannerman (well i've no idea who's dis man..)
newspapers machine
i was bored..so i started utilising james' cam..
still bored..haha..
we got lost somehow..he was seriously reading de map..Lol
on de way to Downtown Fort Worth
finally arrived at Downtown Fort Worth..
at de carnival
huge turkey legs sold at de carnival..haha..
mr "clown"
james and i
yawen and i
Bass Performance Hall..
de AMC movie place is on de right..see dat red signboard?
enjoyed de pics? haha. spent almost half a day outside. oh btw, dere are some more pics yet to be posted up cuz limin haven send me hers!! =(
back at our place: at night, james had to sleep in de car cuz yawen said it was inconvenient for him to sleep in our room. i'm definitely ok with de idea he sleeps with us, on de couch or floor though. was quite pissed with her. but i can't blame her too cuz she's ain't as liberal as we are. different people have different thinking. haha. anyway i asked him to bathe and slack in our room till he wants to sleep. we watched '28 Days Later' on HBO. den around 1+am, he went down to de car and we gers went to bed shortly after. going out again de next day. haha.
[Sunday, July 17]
received a sms from evelyn at around 8+ in de morning. den james came up to our room at 10+ while i was still sleeping. and he was like "i slept late too, but you wake up later than me." haha. typical of me. i usually dun wake up before 11 unless dere's sch. i washed up, bathed, replied eve's sms and ate my breakfast - james fell asleep on de couch while waiting for me to do all these. Lol.
went out at 12+. i suggested going to West End Marketplace again, din get to shop de whole place de day before. was also intending to buy him a birthday present. at West End, we came across dis shop which sells many tees and some accessories. asked him for his shirt size and he din suspect anything. haha. so i decided to get him a tee. yawen chipped in for his present too. went to browse around other shops too and bought some stuffs. was thinking of how to divert his attention so i can go back to de first shop to buy de tee. realised dat he was browsing around in another shop when i'm cracking my head of how to distract him. asked yawen to accompany him dere while i go get de tee. after which, we went to a mexican restaurant named On The Border. initially all were hungry so on top of our main course, we ordered an appetizer. de serving of de appetizer was so big dat when we were 3/4 through it, we were quite full already. haha. so we took away again.
walked around downtown for awhile den james sent us back to our place. took some photos in our room using self timer. den slacked around - watched Austin Powers on tv till about 430pm, he had to return de car. offered to help him carry one of his bags so i can put de present into it without his knowledge. haha. but de plan kinda failed. i was quite obvious. walked him to de car, exchanged hugs den told him about a little something in his bag. haha.
hey dude, thanks for visiting. see you soon in SF. hopefully your place is more interesting and lively. haha. take care and miss you! =D
after he left, yawen suggested taking photos in our neighbourhood. had a fun time exploring our area. haha. see de pics below.
at West End Marketplace de 2nd time
outside a Candy Shop..
On The Border: de nachos are larger than those in SG..haha..
appetizer only..
my main course..so filling..
Have a Nice Day Cafe
de 2nd rented car - Nissan
back at our hotel room..i was looking at another cam..hee..
haha..i suggested posing silly faces..yawen looked nice instead of silly..
after james left: our room door
behind our apartment
this is de 1st half of a truck..haha..
this is de 2nd half..haha..
inside de lift..behind us are de buttons btw..
silly pose in front of de lift
me again..Lol..
okie peeps. datz de end. dere are many more pics but itz juz too many alrdy. sorry if de pics aint very clear, dun wanna make it too large on my entry..heh..till my next update, cya! haha. =P
